


Dreams, Insomnia, Nightmares

by LemonHead2221



Category: Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Anime/Video Game Fusion, Bad Dreams, Gen, Or not, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Star Warriors, a wild galacta appears, and he makes magolor cry, curiosity killed the cappy, demon beasts, everybody is stressed and sleep deprived, galacta being the mother scolding meta and dark, gem apples, i seriously don't know how to tag, meta knight dislikes magic portals, meta knight having nightmares? huh weird, my stories tend to get kinda dark so this is your waning, poor halcandran wizard is freezing in the summer, someone just give meta a hot chocolate, the borbs are FIGHTIIIIIING, things are starting to get interesting, those things are dangerous, well not everybody. for now., while dedede is just watching like the kid who only came to play video games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:48:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23861083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LemonHead2221/pseuds/LemonHead2221
Summary: Three years after Nightmare has been defeated, the world and mainly Dream Land are finally in peace.But was he?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

— It's going to rain today. — was the first thing Fumu's father said after sitting down for breakfast.

The girl looked out of the window. Indeed, there was a dark blanket of stormy clouds on the horizon. As she ate, her eyes fell upon the large battleship crossing the skies. Halberd. Three years after Nightmare's defeat, she had been rebuilt, improved and, of course, even more well equipped. The crew had expanded, too. Formerly referred to as "The Meta-Knights" by the villagers, now they officially called themselves by that name. Fumu had met them a few times, when she was invited to the new battleship.

There was no doubt that the Halberd was an amazing view. The girl briefly remembered when, in one of her visits to the battleship, sir Meta Knight told her that the Halberd spent less fuel and energy by hovering around, like it was now, than by standing still in the air. So it would fly, like a sentinel guarding the city. That had prevented several surprises both from the sky and from the ground, as the Meta-Knights would spot any apparent threat and warn them, often annihilating said threat before any damage could be caused.

Fumu snapped out of those thoughts when her parents took the dishes to the sink. Bun quickly rushed out to play, but she stayed inside reading for almost an hour until she could hear the movement outside. Then she left too.

Castle Dedede, had been entirely rebuilt by the Waddle Dees themselves. Fumu thought it looked even better. More light came in the corridors from outside, giving the building a much more friendly and welcoming look, and the structure itself looked far more elegant than before. Sword and Blade Knight, who had decided to stay in the castle as their contact to the battleship far above, were already patrolling the castle. The girl greeted them.

— Fumu, good morning! — they replied — Sirica and Knuckle Joe asked us to tell you that they are waiting for you. — Fumu thanked the knights.

Once a calm and quite boring place, Pupupuland was now much bigger and much more diverse. In those three years, Kirby had gone in several adventures and made a lot of friends, many of which had established themselves in Popstar, bringing foreign cultures, architecture, commerce and traffic from all around the galaxy. The town was now a beautiful and colorful mix of several different kinds of aliens. On the courtyard of the castle there was the theme park built by one of Kirby’s new friends and some stores and food stands sponsored by the king himself. It was a fun place that everyone was welcome to during the day.

Fumu walked among the stores that stood around the main yard. Food stands, clothing shops, tech stores, more food stands, all filled with aliens from every corner of the galaxy. Fumu scanned the crowd until she found who she was looking for.

— Sirica! Knuckle Joe! Hello! — Her friends waved back at her.

Sirica had grown to be the tallest of the three. Despite having a longer lifespan than the girl from Popstar, she had grown faster than her and looked older than when they met that she already looked like a grown up. Her playful smile, on the other hand, made her apparent age drop to the actual value.

Knuckle Joe was on the complete opposite end of the stick. He had grown very little, if anything at all, and still had that same impulsive and bratty behaviour.

None of the two ever stayed for more than a few days at a time, but both came down for a visit whenever they could. As Demon Hunters, Joe and Sirica had to constantly fly from system to system, often at distant points of the galaxy. To them, being able to stay somewhere for longer than one mission and enjoy some quality time with friends was always a welcome change.

— Morning. — Knuckle Joe greeted Fumu as soon as she came closer — Have you seen Kirby? We were supposed to train together today.

Sirica looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

— We stop on Dreamland to relax and you want to go train?

Fumu laughed as the boy shrugged, not understanding what was wrong with that.

— No, I haven't. He might still be sleeping in his house.

— I'll go check, thanks! — he yelled, already on the main gate.

— He really can't stay five minutes without punching something, can he? — Fumu asked.

Sirica smiled. — No, he can’t. It’s a good thing that he have Kirby around to keep him busy.

— That’s true. Anyway, how have you been? You didn’t talk to anyone since you arrived.

— Oh, I’ve been fantastic. Someone thought that ordering a couple of demon beasts was a good idea, so me and a bunch of hunters had to catch entire breeds of them in eight Standard Days. That’s five days in Popstar. Then I went to another system to seek for a marine creature. If you want an advice on sea life, sharks bite. Strong.

— I can imagine. Where are you staying?

— The castle. Meta Knight finally convinced the king to give both me and Joe rooms to stay while we are here.

Sirica stopped to look at a laser gun on a shop. The owner, an alien with pink hair, big pink eyes and oil stains that covered her detached hands, smiled at her.

— Like what you see?

— Hey, Susie. — Fumu greeted the alien — What is that?

The girl stroke the gun like a pet.

— This is one of my new inventions. Great precision, adjustable lethality and highly customizable.

— It does look functional. — the girl with white hair said and tapped her multi-functional weapon — But I still prefer mine.

Susie's big eyes glowed in amazement.

— Can I take a look at it? — Sirica passed her weapon to the shop owner — Oooh, fantastic! Four weapons in one hilt! There aren't many of these out there. They are extremely difficult to master. — Sirica's chest puffed up in pride — Truly amazing! I could make a few improvements if you'd like. — Susie gave the weapon back to her.

— Thanks, but I'm fine.

Susie tilted her head to the side, clearly disappointed for not getting the chance of modifying the weapon. Anything she saw, she had to improve.

— If you say so. Come back again! — she waved as the girls walked away.

— Isn't she the one who tried to turn this planet into a chunk of metal one day?

— Yep. — Fumu confirmed with a smile — She apologized for that and Kirby quickly grew fond of her.

Sirica whistled.

— Dreamlanders sure are nice people. — before Fumu could reply, the taller girl's eyes widened — Meta Knight!

Fumu looked where she was looking. Sir Meta Knight was observing the shops from afar. The two girls walked there and greeted him, who politely nodded back. The brief bright blue color that flashed on his eyes showed he was glad to see them.

— I thought you were at the Halberd. — Fumu said.

— Things down here can be far more exciting than in the air. — he replied, then turned to Sirica — How long are you staying?

— Two or three days. Knuckle Joe is also here, with Kirby.

— I see. Have a nice stay.

She nodded — Thank you. Come on, Fumu.

They waved him goodbye and walked away.

The two girls walked around for a while before walking to the town. There was much more movement there than in the castle, as most stores, restaurants and other establishments were there. They walked by some, talking about things such as books they had read, the weirdest species of animals they had seen and things like that. One would think that, having a life like Sirica’s, the alien would be bored by Fumu’s detailed descriptions about butterfly diets, but she actually listened with interest to every word and even asked some questions. When they passed by the food store alley, Sirica’s stomach remembered her she hadn’t eaten in several hours, so she bought some snacks, then they went to Kirby's house to meet with him and Joe, where a very sleepy and very grumpy Tokkori kindly (with just a little bit of Sirica's gun's influence) informed them that they had left several minutes earlier and pointed the direction they went. The girls were about to go there when Sirica said:

— You know what? Now I also want to practice. Are you still training swordsmanship?

Fumu smiled at the question. For a while now, she had been learning to defend herself with swords from Kirby, Sword and Blade and, in occasion, even sir Meta Knight.

— Yes, I am.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explosive currency and Marx within six feet of each other. What could possibly go wrong?  
> Also Meta Knight doesn't like magic portals and makes Magolor cry.

It was almost night when the four of them decided to take a walk around the stores in Castle Dedede. Some stands were already closing for the night, but there were still quite a lot of people there.

They found Meta Knight buying coffee for the Halberd crew as soon as they arrived. Kirby immediately ran to give him a hug. The masked knight pulled a ticket out of nowhere and gave it to him. Kirby turned back to the others, hopping and waving the ticket.

Knuckle Joe had already looked around and decided they were going on the ferris wheel, so both ran there. There was an “10 minutes break” sign on the entrance, which displeased both, but they stood in the line anyway.

— Hello again, Meta Knight — Sirica greeted and sir Meta Knight politely nodded back, a hint of blue still flashing in his eyes.

— Hey, you three! — Meta Knight instinctively took a step back before being able to control the urge to run away. The three looked at the speaker. Susie was floating towards them, a look of annoyance on her face.

— Hey, Susie. — Fumu said, mentally writing down the knight’s reaction — What’s wrong?

— Magolor is wrong, of course. Can you please go talk some sense into his stupid egg head?

Sirica glanced at the Shoppe, where the halcandran wizard was happily chatting with Marx.

— He doesn’t look like he’s doing anything wrong — she said, but Susie had already floated back to her stand.

Fumu and Sirica walked to the Shoppe. Looking closer, they could see that Magolor and Marx were more arguing than chatting and the wizard seemed to be trying to keep his gem apples away from the short jester.

— Ah, Fumu! — Marx called her — Tell Magolor to share his bombs with me!

— SHHHHHH! — Magolor hissed.

— His what?

— You see… — Magolor started, but stopped mid sentence to slap Marx’s feet, which was almost touching one of his apples — Stop doing that, these are dangerous!

Sirica took a closer look at the apple Marx kept trying to take, then directed a severe look to the halcandran.

— You are making explosive currency. Magolor, you know that’s a crime in four fifths of the inhabited systems in the galaxy, Dream Land included, right?

— Don’t worry, I won’t use it for… anything too bad. — Sirica raised an eyebrow — And I won’t let anyone else use them either. Not even you. — he snatched the apple away from Marx’s reach right before the jester touched it — Trust me. Have I ever lied about anything be…

**BOOM!**

Everyone turned to look at Marx, who had an explosive apple under his feet and looked a lot like a child who had just been caught with their hand in a cookie jar. He gave them an “oops” smile.

— Marx! — Magolor yelled.

— Hey, look at the bright side, nothing… —  **CREEEAK** — … broke…

One of the ferris wheel’s support poles bent, making the entire structure lean to the side. Kirby looked up at the weight about to crush him with a curious expression.

A golden shadow flashed on the air. Sirica jumped forward. Fumu yelled Kirby’s name.

Right before any of those could have any effect, a star shaped hole appeared and Kirby got sucked in.

The pink ball fell safely on the grass in front of Fumu at the same time that tons of metal, wood and plastic hit the floor with a loud noise. The girl didn’t see the floating runes around Magolor’s hands vanish nor Galaxia bouncing on the floor where Kirby had been a fraction of second before, and she also didn’t hear the painful scream that came from under the rubble as she hugged Kirby with all her strength.

— Thanks Nova you’re safe. — she whispered and turned to Marx, already starting to scold him, when Meta Knight’s call distracted her. She looked at him and froze.

Sirica.

With Knuckle Joe’s help, Fumu and Meta Knight managed to pull her from under the weight. Sirica was, unsuccessfully, trying to not cry of pain.

Meta Knight examined her right foot for a few seconds before announcing it was broken. Sirica responded with an exasperated growl. Kirby stepped closer, looking at her with guilty eyes. He blabbered at her and, although nobody understood what he was saying, the meaning was clear.

— It wasn’t your fault, don’t worry.

— It really wasn’t. — Meta Knight muttered, staring at the Shoppe, where Magolor was arguing with Marx. Fumu could swear his eyes went red for a moment.

They took Sirica to her room, where Sword and Blade bandaged her foot, much against her will.

— You will have to stay here for a month — Sword informed. The alien girl did not look happy to hear that.

— I have to leave in a few days. I have to work.

— No, you don’t, you have to stay here and rest that foot. — Fumu retorted. Sirica glared at her with annoyance and opened her mouth to argue, but then shivered when another wave of pain came from her foot. After it passed, she put a hand on her forehead and looked like she was going to say something, but looked around for something instead.

— My headband. Where is it?

Fumu also looked around before saying:

— I don’t think you were wearing it while we brought you here. I’ll go check the courtyard.

Putting the ferris wheel back together took a lot of Magolor’s energy. He bought a cotton candy at a stand, ate the entire thing and still bought another one before going back to close the Shoppe. Most stands closed at the sunset and, even though he would usually stay for a couple more hours, the wizard was too tired to work more that day.

He took a longer path, through the inside of a tower, to avoid meeting anyone but, right as Magolor arrived at the courtyard, he spotted Meta Knight walking towards him.

— Hey, Meta…

One of Meta Knight’s gloved hands slammed Magolor against the wall while the other held Galaxia pointed at his eyes, the cotton candy spilled on the floor.

— Don’t you dare to ever use magic on Kirby again. — Meta Knight said with a threateningly low voice. Magolor stared in horror at his glowing crimson eyes.

— I… I was only helping…

— Don’t you ever use magic on him again. — the knight repeated, pressing Galaxia against the halcandran’s skin, the unspoken “or else” very clear. — Do you understand?

Magolor tried to nod, but felt the tip of the sword and whimpered a “yes” instead.

Meta Knight let him go and walked away, sheathing Galaxia. The wizard fell to the floor with a sigh of relief. A shallow cut on his cheek stained his yellow glove with red when he touched it. Magolor wiped the tears that had formed in his eyes, collected the candy from the floor and floated away the fastest he could on the opposite direction to Meta Knight.

Fumu wasn’t able to hear what the two said, but she did see the way Meta Knight’s sword was pointed at Magolor and how the wizard dashed past her and up the stairs that led to one of the towers of Castle Dedede. He sounded like he was crying. Concerned, the girl followed him.

She found Magolor sitting on the crenellated parapet, eating his cotton candy. He quickly turned around when he heard her, his hand brushing against the scarf as if he was going to move it up and then gave up on the action. He was not covering his mouth, but what surprised Fumu was the mouth itself. It was covered in scars from cuts, burns and a larger one that extended to under the line of his robe and looked like it was skinned.

She forced herself to not stare or give any hint of her surprise.

—Hey, Magolor.

— Good evening, Fumu.

— Are you ok?

— Of course I am. Why would I not be? — a sniffle turned in the lie.

— What happened with you and Meta Knight?

He didn’t answer and stared at the horizon instead. Fumu sat on the crenel besides his and waited. Magolor was shivering, whether of fear or of cold she couldn’t tell. Coming from a volcanic planet, he was always cold in Dream Land, even in the summer. Despite knowing that, the sight of him covering his entire body but his eyes with thick clothing in a hot summer afternoon was still very unsettling.

— He still doesn’t trust me, that’s all. — Magolor took so long to reply that Fumu had to remember what her question was.

— That doesn’t mean he can threaten you with a sword or spill your food on the floor…

— I cleaned this, it’s fine.

— What did he say?

Magolor was obviously uncomfortable with the question, as he completely ignored it.

— It’s fine, I don’t blame him.

— Magolor…

— I’m fine, really, just a little tired. — he said with a smile which made the scars stretch. Fumu looked away from them — Repairing that wheel was not as easy thing.

Arguing with him wouldn’t lead to anything, Fumu concluded.

— If you say so…

They watched as Mace Night entered the main gate. It wasn’t common for any of the Meta-Knights to come down from the Halberd. He walked toward Susie’s stand. Susie closed her little store and walked out of the castle with the knight. Even from afar, she looked nervous for some reason. Fumu’s eyebrows rose. It was a bad day for everybody, apparently.

She jumped when the now clean stick of cotton candy disappeared with a flash of thin white lines. Magolor laughed at her reaction, making the scars move again. This time he noticed her stare.

— I think I owe you an explanation for this. — Fumu was going to object, but he interrupted her — As an apology for the thing with the wheel and your friend. — Magolor looked deep into Fumu’s eyes and, with the most casual tone possible, said: — This is the halcandran punishment to liars.

Fumu’s eyes widened as she processed that information.

— W-what? — Magolor chuckled. The girl looked like she had stepped shoeless on a cockroach — That’s… that’s awful!

— Not at all. You see, punishments are only inflicted on those who deserve it. — a warm breeze blew at that moment. Shivering, Magolor pulled his scarf back in place.

Why was he so comfortable with that? Everybody lies. In fact, Fumu didn’t know one person who had never told a lie in their life. To be punished for something like that…

— Halcandra must be a horrible place to live in. — the girl let out before quickly covering her own mouth, but the wizard didn’t look offended.

— It isn’t, believe me, you would like it a lot. Although you would take a while to get used to the temperature… but there’s a lot of things to research there. Ancient ruins, several kinds of treasures buried under volcanic ashes, lost libraries…

— Libraries? — Fumu interrupted before being able to control herself.

— The ancient people liked to write. A lot. Plus, Halcandra’s history itself fills entire rooms alone. There are several projects to type all the books so that we don’t lose them. I could lend you some.

Fumu’s eyes glowed.

— Really? — Magolor nodded.

— Do you know Halcandran?

The girl’s excitement faded immediately as she replied a low “no”. Magolor thought for a few seconds, then raised his hands in what was probably a stretch, but his lack of arms made it end up looking like he was summoning an ancient creature.

— I have an idea. But you have to come to the Lor with me. — he stood up and smiled at her — Let’s get you some books.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote that scene with Magolor and Fumu THREE TIMES before coming up with this one, I. AM. ANGRY.  
> Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. I don't have a schedule for writing, but I'll try to post the next one before the month ends.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how, back in May, I said I wanted to get the next chapter done by the end of the month? Yeah, sorry for that. It's here now.

Fumu had seen the Lor Starcutter before, of course. It was parked close to Whispy Woods. That was a little too far from town than she would find comfortable, but Magolor never seemed to mind the distance. The halcandran wizard was very proud of that ship and the work he had done to repair it. His satisfaction just for being gave the girl a feeling of comfort and familiarity. Or maybe that was caused by the ship itself. She didn't know.

Magolor started working as soon as they arrived. He got some metal plates, wires and a toolbox and headed to the bridge, where a floating table appeared out of nowhere for him. Fumu watched the large screen next to them for a while. It was filled with writings in Halcandran and maps of Popstar. On one corner there were a picture of a spiked crown and one of a four-headed dragon (Landia, she supposed). There was also a picture of Magolor himself next to the icon of a volcano, with more Halcandran writing. She was going to ask what was written there, but when she looked at him, he handed her a rectangular piece of metal covered by glass on one side. That had been fast.

— What’s this? — she asked, taking it. The glass glowed blue for a second, then became transparent.

— Here. — Magolor put a paper sheet with several words in halcandran on the table — Look at this.

Fumu put the piece of metal between her and the paper and, to her great surprise, in one second all of the words were in her language instead.

— Wha- — she moved the device away from the paper, then put it back, then moved it away again to make sure that it was not the paper that had changed — What? How?

— That’s a translator. — Magolor explained after a chuckle — Only works for Halcandran and your language, but it should be enough.

— Wow…! — Fumu said, her mouth open wide. She looked at the screen. What was written under his picture? She pointed the translator to it, but before it could translate them, Magolor himself stepped in front of it.

— Follow me, please? — he said as the screen faded to black.

Fumu followed the Halcandran through a door, a corridor, then he went through another door. The lights went on automatically when he entered the room.

If Fumu’s mouth had dropped before, it was nothing compared to the way her chin was lying on the floor now. The walls were filled with books all the way to the ceiling, boxes filled with parchments, manuscripts and manuals were stacked over each other on a corner, even more books covered the floor in piles so tall that Magolor had some difficulty floating around. How did the Lor carry so much weight?

Magolor opened some boxes, bumped into some piles of books and nearly made everything fall to the ground, but he finally came out with five heavy volumes on his disembodied hands.

— Halcandran culture, classical tales and poetry, traditional bedtime stories, geology, botanics. — he enumerated as he passed each book to Fumu’s arms — Have fun and come back to get more when you finish them.

— Are you… really lending me these?

— Of course, why not? It’s better than leaving them here, catching dust. C’mon, I’ll take you back to the castle!

— Have you read all of those? — Fumu asked, already outside the starcutter.

— Yep. Most of them are not very rare, so I had read them back in Halcandra. A few were lost ages ago, so I typed them into the system. But now I’ve read everything. Most are about ancient technology, magic and engineering. I don’t think you would find much interest in them.

— Me neither. — although she loved to study, technology wasn’t something the girl was deeply interested in.

She looked up. The Halberd was flying much closer than she used to. Maybe that had something to do with the reason Maca Knight was at the castle earlier.

— What did sir Meta Knight say to you before? — she risked asking.

— I said it already, it was nothing. We just don’t get along very well.

Fumu decided to stop asking and they remained in a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip.

He watched in silence as Mace Knight guided Haltmann through the corridors of the Halberd. Her eyes were wide in admiration at her surroundings, which made his ego inflate a little bit. Susanna Patrya Haltmann didn’t compliment technology easily, having her corporation as a base for comparison. And what a base, Meta Knight thought, having to suppress the feeling of metal parts wired into his body. At that exact moment, she saw him. The blue swordsman turned around and went into his office, locking the door behind him. He walked around his desk, entered the next room, locking that door too, flew over the bed and sat on the floor besides it, wrapping his cape tighter around his body.

Haltmann was in his ship and she had looked at him with that look again. That look of someone who did not regret what they had done and, even more than that, wanted to do it again. Meta Knight didn’t know what kind of sick fascination she felt towards him, but whenever he was around, her face always had that maniac expression of a mad scientist who had found an extremely interesting test subject and wanted to see its limits. He didn’t want to be mechanized again.

He was afraid of her.

The reflection on the tall mirror on the wall shifted. When it stopped, the image was of a rather creepier throne room in Castle Dedede.

— I don’t want to talk now, if you don’t mind. — Meta Knight said.

The mirror went back to normal, leaving him alone again. After a few moments, however, his monochromatic counterpart stepped into the room, followed by a waddle dee who was pushing a small cart over which there was a large cake. The waddle dee bowed, adjusted his bow tie and jumped back into the mirror. Dark Meta Knight cut a slice of the cake and handed it to the other knight.

— You don’t have to talk, just eat a little. — he said, noticing the way Meta was looking at him. Meta took the cake, pushed his mask up and started eating. Dark did the same. Now that was something neither would be comfortable doing in anyone else’s presence.

When the cake was half eaten, Meta said:

— I need to talk.

— I’m listening.

Meta sighed.

— Haltmann is here. In the Halberd. I… I don’t think I can sleep tonight.

— You have been awake for four days straight.

— I know, I know. but… — Meta looked through one of the small windows in the room — He is already too powerful… And that’s with the normal nightmares. The ones about Haltmann are always so much worse. I shouldn’t.

The look in Dark’s eyes was so concerned and compassionate that Meta had to look away.

— Are you sure this is a good idea?

— Yes. She leaves tomorrow, then I sleep.

Dark looked at his empty plate.

— I will not argue with you, but I hope you’re sure of what you’re doing.

The knight gave his reflection a sad smile.

— It’s not like I have a choice.

Meta Knight was a weird guy. Silent, mysterious, smart and incredibly intelligent. Actually, intelligent was an understatement; Meta Knight was a genius.

Susie knew all that from experience. When she mechanized him, instead of struggling against the improvements like everyone else, he had allowed them to be made, getting used to the extensions and the wires, learning how they worked and how to bend the program to his will, all right under her nose, without letting anyone notice. Then, when Kirby fought against him, he made sure to hold back his attacks just enough for the pink ball to be able to defeat him… twice. He managed to trick her twice, then walk in wreaking havoc in her company after it was all over.

Meta Knight was a weird guy.

Mace Knight led her through the corridors of the Halberd (a battleship so well-built that she had to control the impulse of stopping to admire it) to the room that had been assigned to her. One of the terms of the meeting was that Susie had to stay at the Halberd during the night with no means to communicate with anyone on the outside and carefully watched by the Meta-Knights. That just showed how much their leader trusted her.

She saw him once as she was escorted to her room. Meta Knight watched her for some seconds, then turned around and entered a door, the click-click of his armor echoing through the ship.

Susie knew Meta Knight was afraid of her. Maybe not exactly of her, Susie Haltmann, but of what she did and could do to him again. Because want it or not, being mechanized hurts in many ways. It wouldn't bother her if it was anyone else, but that was the base for Mecha Knight, the best robot she ever made. None of the following models was as good as the original. Susie still wanted to mechanize… no, improve him again.

That was why he wouldn't let her close. Susie sighed.

— Here we are. — Mace Knight's voice pulled her from the depths of her thoughts — You will be provided with dinner in two hours and breakfast early in the morning. If there is any problem, there is a communicator next to the door.

Susie thanked him and entered the room. It wasn't very large. A bed, a desk, another door that led to a bathroom, a wardrobe full of blankets, a soft carpet and curtains hanging in front of the small windows. Wow, they actually put her in a room with windows. That was not little in a battleship.

Susie chose a blanket, placed it on the bed and sat next to it. She wasn’t usually bothered by professional meetings, but that one was making her shake in anxiety. She wondered about how many people would be in the room. At least one, she hoped.

As Mace Knight had said, in two hours a pair of waddle dees knocked on the door. They were bringing her a plate of rice, pasta and steak, a bowl of salad and a cup of juice. The secretary thanked them politely, but couldn’t contain a sudden cold in her stomach after noticing that was the exact same thing she had for dinner everyday back at H.W.C.


	4. Chapter 4

Sailor Dee was humming his favorite song as he guided the other dees through the corridor. He had had a good night with wonderful dreams and he felt like nothing could ruin that day. He knocked on Meta Knight’s office’s door and, after a few seconds with no answer, walked in. “He must still be asleep”, he thought, heading to the door to the bedroom. He knocked on that one too, but also received nothing.

— Um, weird. He always wakes up when we knock. — Sailor Dee said to the other two — Sir Meta Knight? We are coming in…! Sir?

— Help me wake him up! — Dark yelled.

Meta Knight was soaked in sweat, shaking, rolling to the left and to the right. His Mirror Land counterpart was doing his best to wake him up, unsuccessfully. The two waddle dees ran to try to stop their captain from falling off the bed. Sailor Dee looked around for anything that could help. He saw a jar of water on the cart they had brought, picked it up and poured it all over the blue knight. That seemed to work, as Meta Knight’s eyes snapped open and he sat up, breathing heavily, and pulled his mask off with violence. For a moment, nobody did anything, then Sailor Dee turned to the waddle dees and ordered:

— Water! Bring more water! With ice! — the waddle dees ran around in confusion for a moment, then dashed out of the room — S-sir, are you ok?

Meta Knight looked at him and his eyes flashed red, then green. Dark put a hand on his pauldron.

— Hey, look at me, Meta. You are safe now. Don’t worry, you hear me?

Meta Knight nodded once. His wings stretched out and flapped some times, as if he were trying to check they were really there. Sailor Dee opened the curtains while Dark Meta Knight used his own wings to blow some wind on his Original. The waddle dees arrived with another jar of water and a cup, which they filled and passed to their lord. He drank it all in one swallow.

— Nightmare. — he said, his voice not much more than an exhausted whisper — How is he?

Dark looked out of the window — Larger.

Meta covered his eyes with his hands.

— No… I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have slept. I should’ve waited…

— Hey, calm down, ok? Don’t worry about that now. Here, eat your breakfast. Do you want me to cancel the meeting with Haltmann? — Meta nodded — Ok, then. Come on, Sailor Dee. Let’s give him space.

— Did he say…  _ Nightmare  _ ? — Dee asked after being practically pushed out of the room.

Dark sighed — Look, Sailor Dee, Meta is having some… problems lately. He asked me not to say anything about it, so if you want to know something, you’ll have to ask him. Just please, don’t tell anyone about what just happened, ok?

The Dee nodded with watery eyes — For how long has this been happening?

Dark Meta Knight looked at him. For a brief moment, Sailor dee thought he would tell him, but then he said:

— I’m sorry, I can’t say anything.

— It’s going to rain today.

Bun snorted — Dad, you said that yesterday.

— Well, it can’t take too long to happen. Look at the size of that cloud. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Fumu poked her pancakes with the fork. That was a really weird cloud. It was so long that it disappeared behind the hills on both sides of the horizon and so dense that it was almost black, as if that part of the sky had forgotten to light up at sunrise. It reminded her of something she read in one of Magolor’s books, about how the volcanic smoke in Halcandra would sometimes cover half the planet and the only light would be the one coming from the lava below. But none of the few volcanoes in Popstar was active, so it couldn’t be volcanic smoke.

— How’s Sirica, darling? — Memu asked.

— Dying to go outside. Her foot is healing, but she is very bored. I’ll go see her later.

— She could have died yesterday…

Parm nodded — Yes, she…

Whatever he was going to say was muffled by a loud rumbling noise. Bun opened the front door to find an entire division of armed waddle dees running past them. After they passed, the king himself could also be seen running, although he couldn’t keep up with them and had to stop to catch his breath.

— King Dedede, what is going on? — Fumu asked him.

— Portal… sky… crystal… Knight…

— What? Speak right. — Bun said, but his sister was already darting away.

Fumu took a secret passage, managed to leave the castle before the waddle dees and ran as fast as she could. She arrived in the nearly empty town and saw him. Like a disaster about to be unleashed, Galacta Knight was floating above the tree in the center of the village, looking around. When his glowing crimson eyes met the girl’s, he landed on the floor.

— I am so glad to see somebody. I was afraid this town had been abandoned… or worse.

Fumu stepped back, the sudden reminder that he could wipe her out of the map in an instant creeping into her mind.

— What do you want? — she asked, her voice shaking more than she would like it to.

Galacta Knight clearly noticed her nervousness, because he lifted his empty hands and said:

— I am unarmed, I came in peace.

He was a knight, so he wouldn’t be lying, right? But what kind of knight would fly around without his weapons? One of the first things sir Meta Knight had taught her when she started learning how to use a sword was never to walk without it. Which, of course, she never did, so now she was defenseless in front of the greatest threat in the galaxy.

Not that it would matter. She was way too below his level to even consider trying to face him on a duel. But still, she would prefer to have something, just to feel safer.

— What do you want? — Fumu repeated, unable to relax.

Before he could answer, a lighter pink ball came bouncing towards him.

— Ayata! — Kirby yelled, hugging the knight, who was just as surprised as the girl.

— Little Star Warrior! It is a pleasure to meet you once again!

— Fumu! Ayata hia!

— Yes… — Fumu mumbled, unable to hold a smile back. — Galacta here… Yay…

Her smile widened when the waddle dees finally arrived as well, all pointing their spears at the knight, and, being waddle dees, quickly got confused and started falling on top of each other. The scenery got even funnier when the king arrived and tried to hit Galacta with his hammer, but out of breath and with so many obstacles on his feet, ended up just slamming against the floor as well.

Galacta Knight, however, didn’t seem to be having fun.

— Your Majesty, I need to speak with Meta Knight. It is an emergency.

Fumu’s smile vanished. He,  _ The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy  _ , saying there was an emergency?

— The only emergency I see here is you! — the king lifted his hammer, ready to try another attack.

— King Dedede, please wait! — the girl stood between them. — Kirby trusts him! We should listen to what he says!

The king’s eyes went from her to Kirby, who was now jumping up and down in joy, to the knight. — Speak. — He said, but did not lower his weapon.

Galacta shook his head.

— With all due respect, your Majesty will not want anyone other than Meta Knight and yourself to listen to this. Believe me.

Dedede’s eyes narrowed.

— Meta isn’t available right now. I got a message from the Halberd saying that he doesn’t want to be disturbed, no matter what.

Sir Meta Knight not wanting to be disturbed? That was… unusual.

Galacta stepped forward. — Great King, this is of extreme importance. Please talk to him. He will want to know about this, I assure you.

The king still didn’t look convinced, but nodded.

— Keep an eye on him. — he whispered to the girl.

—  _ What  _ ??? — Fumu’s chin fell. She walked closer to the king.

— If he does anything funny, just scream.

— If he does anything funny, I’ll be  _ dead  _ before being able to. — the girl replied, already more angry than caught off guard. The king ignored her and led the dees back to the castle. Fumu sighed and went back to where Galacta and Kirby were waiting.

She didn’t know Galacta Knight personally, but she had read the legends in children’s books, later confirmed to be true by both Kabu and Sir Meta Knight. Even if the tales were exaggerating, she knew he did have the power to easily make the entire village vanish.

Fumu shivered.

— So, Sir Galacta Knight, what do you intend to do while you wait?

— I hadn’t really thought about it. — he looked genuinely embarrassed — Meta Knight doesn’t seem to be the type of person you should have to schedule a time to talk to.

— He isn’t, and that’s making me worried… Do you think that has anything to do with what you have to say to him?

— Perhaps… — Galacta stared at the horizon.

— If it’s that important, why don’t you just go up to the Halberd instead of waiting?

— If the Galaxy was about to be destroyed and the only way to save it was for you to kill Kirby, would you do it? — The girl’s eyebrow rose. What kind of question was that? And in what way were those two situations similar? Galacta didn’t seem to notice her confusion. — Exactly.

— Okay… Well, I was going to go visit a friend at the castle, so while king Dedede talks to sir Meta Knight, would you like to come with me?

— Am I allowed to go there?

Fumu shrugged — I don’t see why not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came out a little longer than the others and I still couldn't fit everything I wanted in it, so I should be able to upload the next one before the end of the month.  
> Also, I'll change the dashes into quotation marks later, I feel tired just of thinking about doing it to all of them ^^'  
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long one! Hope you like it.

— Oh, I’m glad you’re finally here, I… — Sirica jumped so high that she fell off the bed. Fumu tried to hold back laughter as the waddle dee who was taking care of her friend helped her up. — Is… is that… is he… — the alien girl grabbed her weapon and waved the blade at the pink knight — Fumu, that is…!

— I will not hurt you — Galacta said, showing his empty hands, but he lowered them again when the gesture only made the girl more nervous.

— It’s okay, Sirica, we are just waiting for the king to call Sir Meta Knight.

— Poyo! — Kirby agreed. 

Sirica sat back on the bed, but didn’t put the weapon aside.

— How is the foot? — Fumu tried to break the tense atmosphere.

— Perfect. Great. Wonderful. Can I go out now?

— No! You’re still healing, you can’t just walk around like that.

— Then why did you ask?

— It was a rhetorical question!

Sirica growled in frustration.

— But I have work to do!

— Did you get injured in combat? — Galacta asked politely.

— I’m not injured anymore!

— I can see that — he gave her foot a funny look.

She huffed — An idiot blew up the ferris wheel yesterday and it fell on me.

— She was saving Kirby — Fumu added — It was very brave of her.

— Can you not talk about me as if I weren’t here?

Fumu frowned. Her friend wasn’t usually that grumpy. Was it just because of the foot? She examined Sirica’s face.

— Are you okay? You look tired.

Sirica waved her hand in impatience — I just had a bad dream, nothing much.

— Poyo? — Kirby hopped on the bed, looking at her with concern.

— A bad dream? — Galacta seemed suddenly interested in the topic — Isn’t there a Fountain of Dreams on this planet?

— There is. — Fumu confirmed, thoughtful — I don’t think there is any problem with it because I had good dreams… Maybe it’s because she isn’t from here?

The knight shook his head — No. They affect almost anyone within their reach, regardless of their origins.

— “Almost”?

— They don’t work on certain creatures, such as the ones created by the power of nightmares.

— You mean… Demon Beasts?

— Hey, my mother was a Star Warrior! I’m not a demon beast! — Sirica protested, indignated.

— I didn’t mean that, I apologize — Galacta said quickly. — But there is something keeping you out of its influence. — he looked through a window. Fumu followed his gaze. The Halberd could be seen flying in the distance.

— Do you think it has anything to do with the emergency you mentioned? — she let out before thinking.

Galacta sighed — I hope not.

— Emergency? — Sirica raised an eyebrow — What emergency?

— It is confidential. I am waiting for the king to contact Meta Knight so that I can tell him.

—  _ Fine  _ . Keep your secrets. — Sirica huffed again and crossed her arms, leaning into the pillow. After a moment, however, she sat back up — Can I duel you?

Galacta snorted in amusement — When you heal that foot you can.

She groaned. Kirby and Fumu laughed.

There was a knock on the door. The four of them looked at Captain Doo, who was standing at the entrance.

— Sir Galacta Knight, the king is requesting your presence!

— Did he manage to talk to the Halberd?

— Yes, sir. Please follow me.

Galacta bowed and said goodbye to the others before following the doo through the corridors. When his metallic footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore, Sirica pulled Fumu closer.

— Is he really Galacta Knight?  _ The  _ Galacta Knight? Greatest Warrior in The Galaxy guy?

Fumu nodded — In the flesh.

Sirica hid her face in her hands — I  _ can’t believe  _ I met an  _ actual legend  _ in this state!

Fumu laughed — Look at the bright side; he said he will duel you when you’re better! I don’t think you stand a chance, though… — she added with a smug grin.

Sirica’s face was so contorted in indignation that Fumu couldn’t help but laugh again.

Susie closed the automatic response email that had come as a confirmation that her replacement robot was working at the stand. She deleted some unimportant messages from her inbox before logging out and turning off the device.

— Thanks for letting me use the computer. — She said to the monochromatic Meta Knight behind her. — Why did Meta Knight cancel the meeting?

— I don’t think he would like me to tell… — he said in an apologizing tone — He had a problem, that’s all I can say. — Susie looked at the floor. She didn’t want to have to stay in that battleship for any longer than necessary. — I believe you have already had breakfast?

— Yes, the waddle dees brought me food earlier.

— I see. Please follow me.

The secretary walked close to Dark Meta Knight as he left the room. She took the opportunity to admire the well-built structure of the ship. For laymen, it would look far less advanced than more recent models, even outdated, but she was a specialist and could see how impressive it was. To begin with, its defense and offense systems were capable of facing an entire army alone and winning. There were internal defense mechanisms and its shields could withstand massive damage and even its own attacks. Both features were very rare in heavily armed battleships due to the difficulty of operating them and the large amounts of energy required to make them work. Also, despite being primarily a battleship, the Halberd had the best Faster-Than-Light boosting system she had ever seen, reaching speeds that H.W.C. had only been able to implement in two of their most resistant engines. The cargo space was also obscenely huge for a ship not intended exclusively for transportation. The radio and the GPS systems were nothing less than fantastic, capable of locating a signal on the other side of the galaxy with an error range of only one meter.

The Halberd was, just like its creator, a wonder of the Universe.

Susie nearly tripped on the gray night when he stopped walking abruptly. He showed the door in front of him.

— There aren’t many entertainment options here, but this is the training room. You can use it for as long as you want.

— Training? Really?

— Um… I… Well, I thought that staying in that room all the time would make you bored, but if you don’t want to train, I can try to…

— No, no, it is fine. I just don’t think I’m supposed to leave my room… 

Dark made a dismissive wave with his hand.

— What does Meta think you can do to this battleship? Destroy it? No offense, Ms. Haltmann, but not even you can hijack this baby. — he finished that sentence patting on the wall. — I have some things to do right now, so I’ll leave you here. You know the way back to your room, right? Ok, good training session.

Dark Meta Knight waved at her as he walked away. Susie couldn’t hold back a confused smile. He was so much nicer than the other Meta Knight. She opened the door.

Speaking of him… 

Meta Knight looked at her when Susie forgot to hold the door and it slammed shut behind her. She let out a startled yelp and turned around to get out of the room.

— You don’t need to leave if you don’t want to. — Susie stared at him. The knight was staring back.

She walked over to a bench next to a wall and sat down, his gaze following her for a while before going back to the target dummy. Susie tried to observe him without looking like it. Meta Knight’s movements were elegant and natural, as if swinging a heavy chunk of metal were as easy as using a fork. She knew his mask and shoes were also very heavy, which only made it even more impressive. He would make his cape morph into his wings and back to normal depending on what was convenient, without ever losing balance or slowing down. It was mesmerizing to watch him while Susie kept count of how many times  _ she  _ would have tripped on the floor.

Right as she was thinking that, Meta Knight slipped and fell flat on his ass.

Susie did her best as a serious, professional woman to avoid laughing as he untangled himself from the half of the cape that had wrapped around his other showing wing. Now that he wasn’t moving, however, she could see that his arms and wings were shaking slightly and that his eyes lacked their usual sharpness. The way he was pulling the cape was sloppy, as if he didn’t know what to do, and he seemed to get angrier and angrier the longer it took him to finally free his wings.

Clear signs of exhaustion, Susie thought.

— Are you alright? — she couldn’t help but ask.

— A little fall won’t kill me. — he replied with annoyance, picking up his sword from the floor. Nothing about never saying a word about that to anyone. He probably knew she wouldn’t dare.

— That’s not what I mean. You seem tired.

Meta Knight hesitated — I haven’t slept much. Or well.

— Shouldn’t Dream Landers have good dreams every night? Is it because of what happened yesterday at the park?

— No. — He looked from the target dummy to his shaking hand, then sheathed the sword. — Enough training for this morning — he muttered to himself.

— Why did you cancel our meeting?

He didn’t answer. The knight took a clean towel from a holder and, facing away from the secretary, lifted his mask and dried his face. He drank some water from a bottle and put the mask back in place. Susie thought he was going to leave, but, to her surprise, Meta Knight sat on the floor in front of her, although a safe two meters away.

— I do suppose I owe you an explanation for that. But I need you to keep this secret.

Susie didn’t know why he was asking that, since he clearly didn’t trust her enough to even stand close to her, but still promised not to tell anyone.

Meta Knight opened and closed his wings a few times, clearly uncomfortable. The last time she had seen him nervous like that was at the H.W.C. lab.

— How much do you know about Nightmare?

That was not what Susie was expecting.

— Nightmare the entity? I know he ran a business of selling and renting Demon Beasts until Kirby managed to kill him three years ago. He could create life, as far as I remember, and had strong magic fueled by nightmares. I think he tried to destroy all the Fountains of Dreams. Very rich. He bought a lot of our security systems. I met him personally once and would not like to have to do it again.

The knight nodded.

— Correct. Nightmare is as old as life itself, a creature made out entirely of bad dreams. That means as long as something is having a nightmare somewhere in the universe, he can’t be killed.

Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

— Does that mean…

— He is back. — Susie felt a lump form in her throat. — However, his influence has diminished a lot. Since he can’t read minds anymore, his capacity of causing powerful dreams to terrorize people with what they fear the most has been severely limited, mainly with the Fountain of Dreams holding him back. That way, he can’t collect power as quickly and as easily as he could before, so we are safe for a while. Me and Dark are…

— Sorry for interrupting, but how do you even know he is  _ here  _ ?

— Have you seen the dark cloud outside? The one that is covering more than a third of the planet and growing? That’s him.

Susie wanted to get down from the flying ship.

— But you said he wasn’t collecting power fast. For him to get so large in only three years, it would be necessary at least one source of that terror you just talked about, no? — Meta Knight nodded, staring at the floor. Suddenly something clicked in the secretary’s mind — It’s you, isn’t it? He has been feeding on  _ your  _ dreams this whole time, hasn’t he? — he nodded again, never looking up. — But the Fountain of Dreams should protect you from him. Is it malfunctioning?

— As you yourself said it, Nightmare could create life. He made me out of a Warp Star. He knows what I’m afraid of. And as his creation, the Fountain doesn’t grant me good dreams.

Susie stared at him. Meta Knight was a Demon Beast? Not only that, but he was a hybrid of a Demon Beast and a Star Warrior? Both a Creature of Nightmares and a Creature of Dreams at the same time? She thought that was impossible! A paradox! How much more interesting could he get?

“Focus on the problem”, she told herself mentally.

— How do we stop it?

—  _ We _ don’t. Me and Dark are thinking about that. I have been able to control Nightmare’s growth by sleeping as little as possible, but… — That did explain his exhaustion. Meta Knight looked at his hands — That is taking its toll on my health. I wouldn’t be able to face him in a battle if it were necessary.

— How strong is he?

— Before he was defeated, Nightmare sent a clone of himself to try to kill Kirby. It shouldn’t have more than one percent of his power. The release of that small fraction of energy blew up a piece of the Moon.

Well, then it really wasn’t a surprise that the headquarters of NME had disappeared together with its owner, was it?

— Is there anything I can do to help?

— Yes: don’t tell anyone. The last thing I need is for the people to panic over a problem I still don’t know how to fix.

Susie was about to say that wouldn’t be helping when the door opened. The waddle dee with a sailor hat was standing at the door.

— Sir Meta? The king needs to talk to you.

— I told him not to call today.

— He says it’s important. Code pink, I think.

The knight inhaled sharply.

— Ok, Sailor Dee. Tell him I’ll be right there. — the waddle dee left in a hurry. Meta Knight stood up. Susie had the impression that a weight had been lifted from him. His steps were lighter and his eyes less clouded.

— Why did you tell me all that? — she asked when he was at the door.

— Because I can’t bring myself to worry anyone else — Meta Knight replied as if stating an obvious fact. — Remember, Haltmann: you promised not to tell.

Susie regretted making that promise as he left the training room.


	6. Chapter 6

—  _ What do you mean you knew and didn’t do anything?! _

— Hey man, calm down. I’m sure Meta has a good reason for that. Right, Meta?

Meta Knight looked from the king to Galacta Knight. While Dedede, from his throne, had a concerned look on his face, the warrior was so furious that the air around him was cracking with electricity.

— We were trying to find a solution… — Dark, standing next to his Original, started speaking.

—  _ Solution?  _ — Galacta laughed from across the table — I don’t know if you understand the severity of the situation, Dark Meta Knight, so let me clarify this to you: Nightmare,  _ one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures that exist, a being whose powers can only be fought by the Star Rods, has been getting stronger by feeding on his fear for THREE ENTIRE YEARS! _

— Look, you don’t have to yell… — Dedede tried to touch Galacta’s arm, but had his hand slapped away.

—  _ Do you remember the war, Meta Knight? Do you remember how many brave soldiers have died attempting to stop him? Do you remember the destroyed systems and extinct species, all the blood that has fallen to prevent him from taking the world? _

— I do. — Meta said through gritted teeth, his eyes a glowing crimson.

— Do not use that tone with me, Meta Knight. — Galacta warned him, his voice dangerously low and controlled — You have no right to be mad at the consequences of your recklessness. — Meta didn’t reply this time, but Dark could feel him shaking in anger. — I just… I just want to understand  _ what in Nova’s name _ the two of you had in your minds when you decided to  _ keep something so important a secret! _

— I was going to find a way to stop him on my own at some point.

— So it was about your ego? The whole planet,  _ if not the galaxy, is in danger because of YOUR PETTY SELF-SUFFICIENCY?! IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE TELLING ME?! _

Meta Knight didn’t reply. He seemed to be using all of his will to hold himself from yelling back at Galacta. The king was looking from one of them to the other with a hurt expression. Dark was guessing his Original would have to deal with more than just an angry knight that day.

Galacta shifted his attention to Dark. — What about you, Copy? — Dark’s eye twitched at the nickname, but he remained in silence — Why did you keep this secret?

Dark gulped — Meta… Meta asked me to.

— And you seriously didn’t see how much of a problem that was?

— Sir, with all due respect, you started this meeting apologizing for ignoring Meta’s request for not disturbing him… 

— Yes, that was before I discovered that  _ this absurd was caused by his foolhardiness.  _ It is one thing to want peace while doing the right thing; another to hide from the consequences of one’s own choices like a coward.

— I am  _ not a coward!  _ — Meta slammed his fists on the table, his wings spread in warning.

— Oh, no? Then what were you doing during these three years, while Nightmare fed on your dreams?

— I held him back. — Meta hissed. Dark feared he would jump at Galacta at any moment — If I hadn’t slept so little, he would have already taken the whole planet.

Galacta laughed so loud that the floor of the throne room trembled.

— Yes, of course, why would I think of anything else? You sat on your ass and  _ slept _ .

— That. Is not. What I said.

— I am not stupid, Meta Knight, I know that is not what you said. The point is that you didn’t take action, you didn’t plan anything, you just  _ slept less. As if that would do anything more than tire you to the point that you couldn’t think of an effective plan. _

— I  _ was _ going to think of something!

—  _ The first thing you should have thought of was to warn the king about the danger arising upon his own kingdom! Instead you went against everything you swore to stand for, everything your title and position entail!  _ — Dark heard it when Meta started growling, his hands clenched in a fist so tight that if he had nails, they would be piercing through his skin. — You don’t deserve being called a knight. No Demon Beast should ever. You are nothing more than an aberration.

—  _ I… am… not. _ — Meta was shaking in absolute rage, each muscle only being held in place by his iron will. But it wouldn’t hold against that insult for too long.

— Galacta, please! — Dark intervened — It was not only his fault. You said it, I also didn’t say anything!

— Silence, Copy. You are a mere reflection of a Star Warrior and a Demon Beast, but can be considered neither. You have no say in the matter.

That was the last straw.

Meta jumped over the table and landed a kick on Galacta’s face. The weight of his shoe sent the mask flying across the room.

— How is that for an aberration?! — he spun and tackled the other knight’s exposed face with the thorns of his wings.

— Meta, no! — Dark yelled, but it was too late.

— Solving your problems with aggression. So characteristic of a Demon Beast. — Galacta teased. — Do you have claws too or are you that level of bad at what you do?

Meta jumped at him again. Galacta flew to the side to avoid the attack, but Meta had predicted the action and boosted himself to the side with a flap of his wings. The two knights rolled on the floor in a confusion of blue and magenta. Galacta summoned light daggers that were shot towards them, but all of them missed and hit the floor, harmless, before disappearing. Meta used the thorns to claw at Galacta’s face, who, on the other hand, summoned another single dagger and attacked him with it.

They didn’t cause too much damage, though, because at that moment the king walked over to them, grabbed one knight on each hand and pulled them apart. Meta took out his sword and prepared to throw a beam at Galacta and Galacta summoned more daggers and started the movement to throw them at Meta, but Dedede said:

—  _ Stop that, the two of you! _ — when they stopped mid-attack, the king continued: — Now Meta, put Galaxia away. Galacta, make those things disappear. Grudgingly and giving each other death glares, the two obeyed. The unmasked knight was lowered to the floor — Dark, tell the dees to get a room for him. Uh-uh, no buts — he added when Galacta opened his mouth to argue — You are going to sleep and we’ll talk about this tomorrow. Go.

Dark gave Meta one last concerned look before turning around and quietly following Galacta out of the room.

Fumu held the translator above the book. She had been devouring it for the last few hours. Halcandra, being a relatively small place, didn’t have such a large variation of cultures, but the ones they had were very deep and interesting. The girl had a lot of fun reading about dances to ensure the rivers didn’t rise too much, rituals for something called “the underground cloud” (she presumed that would be a translation mistake) and traditional recipes somehow made out of lava. She also learned that Halcadrans were very serious about trust and reliability and often valued the visibility of their entire faces, a metaphor explained in the book with “do not trust a lying mouth”. The girl found the notes on the corner of the pages, which she had previously thought that were in another language or alphabet, to be actually Magolor’s handwriting. The translator usually took a few seconds to decipher what he had written and sometimes showed different words before landing on the correct ones. Fumu thought that was very funny. The notes added recent information, like how there was now the tradition to paint a four-headed dragon on the bedrooms of newborns or how the “Dance of the Eternal Knowledge” had been divided in two at some point. There was one, above the description of a supposed curse casted upon ancient technology, that was translated simply as “Stupid”.

She finished two more chapters before her parents called her for lunch. Right as she was standing up, the title of the next one caught her attention. It was about the punishments inflicted in response to certain crimes.

Fumu didn’t even pay attention to what she was eating or the conversation that happened during the meal. The memory of Magolor’s scars took over her thoughts all the time. He hadn’t seemed too comfortable showing them to her the previous day. Had he given her that specific book on purpose, so that she learned why he had them? Or was it just a coincidence? He said he had read the book before, but that didn’t mean he remembered what was written word by word.

Fumu finished her lunch, put the plate on the sink and, ignoring whatever Bun was trying to tell her, ran back to her room.

That chapter had more notes than all the previous ones. She read through the “minor” crimes (she didn’t know how pushing someone into a volcano could be considered a minor crime, but there it was), the medium ones and finally got to the serious felonies section. Magolor’s notes on these ones were so abundant that they often overlapped with the text, so roughly a third of it couldn’t be deciphered by the translator device. It started with the punishment for theft: the criminal would have their fingers severed, if they had them. If they didn’t, the hand would be cut off or, in case they possessed disembodied hands, be magically detached from the body. Magolor’s notes said only “out of use”. There was one stating that dragging bodies of water with a diameter larger than one kilometer too close to the planet was considered national treason and punished with death. Lies were punished by making a deep cut on the liar’s mouth. Betraying a friend or breaking a deal was punished by burning the mouth. Fumu’s eyebrow rose. She remembered Magolor saying that his scars were because of lies, but not trason.

She felt cold in her stomach, as if she weren’t supposed to know that, and had the feeling she should stop reading, but her curiosity won over and she continued anyway. Interrupting rituals was considered an affront to the ancients and responded with the removal of an eye, two if it was the dance for low rivers. She flipped the page. The name of the crime was scratched over, but the punishment was “having one’s mouth totally or partially skinned”. Fumu lowered the translator closer to the page to try to read the note pointing at the scratched word. She felt like she had seen those symbols before, but where? The translator changed the letters a few times before stopping on…

Fumu slammed the book shut and dropped the device. That wasn’t… it wasn’t really written… 

She looked around the room, everywhere but at the book. The translator could be wrong, couldn’t it? That horrible handwriting could somehow have been distorted into different letters, couldn’t it?

The note didn’t really say “murder”, did it?

A knocking sound made her jump. Fumu looked at the window.

Magolor. Hesitantly, she let him in.

— I’m sorry for showing up so suddenly _ he said, in his usual cheerful tone _ I just remembered I need one of the books I lent you yesterday. The one about Halcandran culture. You… you haven’t started reading it yet, have you?

Fumu quickly glanced at the book on her desk.

— I just started it — she lied without thinking twice.

Apparently she didn’t lie well enough, because Magolor frowned.

— Really? — the girl nodded. She shoved the book into the floating wizard’s hands. — Fumu, what did you read?

She didn’t reply. She still didn’t want to believe it.

Magolor sighed.

— Look, if you got to… where I think you got… Please, just don’t tell any of what you read to anyone. I can’t explain right now, but please trust me, ok? It’s not what you think. — Fumu gulped, then nodded. Magolor looked at the floor, trying to find something to say. — Look, I… I’m not a bad guy, ok? I just… happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and… — he pointed at the window with his thumb — You know what? I should leave now. Bye.

— Bye.

Fumu went to the kitchen and picked a strawberry from a bowl. She brought the jar with the red morpho butterfly to her desk and opened the lid just enough to slide the fruit inside, then closed it again. The girl watched as the insect landed on the strawberry and seemed to observe her in return.

Fumu opened the book about botanics, but couldn’t focus on the screen of the translator for long enough to understand a full sentence. She walked over to the window and looked at the dark cloud. It didn’t seem to have moved since morning, even though every other cloud had. She should ask Galacta Knight if he knew why it was so strange. Or Sir Meta Knight. Fumu had seen him flying towards the castle earlier, so maybe she could find him and try to convince him to train with her again. For some reason, she had the feeling she would need it. And that feeling only got stronger as she observed that weird cloud.


	7. Chapter 7

Dedede walked into his antechamber. The waddle dees were still guarding the door to his bedroom and there was nothing out of place. He nodded in satisfaction. That was a good sign.

— Did he leave the room? — the king asked one of the guards, who shook his head in a “no”. — Did someone bring him food? — “Yes” — Did he eat? — “Yes” — Dedede nodded again and entered his room.

Meta was in the exact same position from over twelve hours ago; sitting on a couch with his cape wrapped around his body in that way that looked like he was crossing his arms and the face of someone who was about to commit a murder. Dedede sat next to him.

— Is Your Majesty going to return my mask now?

— Nope. My only guarantee you won’t run away is the risk of someone seeing your face outside. — A faint growl of frustration came from the knight. — Why didn’t you tell me? — he asked after a few moments. Meta didn’t reply. — I’m not mad, I just wanted to hear your version. — Still nothing. Dedede sighed. — I talked to your Mirror friend. He said that the plan was to think about the situation for a month, then inform me. But after a whole month not sleeping well and having bad dreams every night you were so tired that you couldn’t think straight anymore.

— That is what happened. — That was odd. Meta had never admitted having bad dreams before, even though the king knew he did. Dedede raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on it.

— What was that with the pink guy?

Meta shifted on the couch, visibly uncomfortable.

— He was right — he said with difficulty. — I acted foolishly and put all in danger.

— That’s no reason to attack him. Was it because he called you an aberration?

— Dark — Meta muttered. Dedede leaned closer to hear him better. — Calling him a mere copy… I can excuse anything he says about me, but insulting Dark is crossing the line.

His eyes had faded into a deep shade of crimson as he said that, but they slowly went back to normal as he fell in silence.

— What has been decided? — Meta asked after calming down.

— A squadron of guards will go do some evaluation on the state of things under the cloud. They leave in two days.

— Did Galacta approve that?

— He didn’t reject it. Do you have any objections?

— I’m grounded, remember? I can’t influence any decisions.

— Well, you can go back to your duties if you rest a…

— NO!

Dedede eyed the knight, concerned.

— How powerful is that guy that he made you afraid of sleeping? — Meta looked away — The more you sleep, the more you can help us.

— The more I sleep, the stronger Nightmare becomes, therefore the less I help.

The king sighed.

— Well, I have to rest, so wake me up if ya need somethin’, alright?

He patted Meta on the head and moved to the large bed that could fit five of him side by side. His loud snores started right as his head touched the pillow. The knight sighed. The earlier fight with Galacta still hadn’t left his mind. He looked through the window. Outside, the moonlight drew a faint silver line on the large cloud. Meta’s eyes narrowed. Galacta was right. He should never have hidden Nightmare’s return. But regretting it now was pointless. He had to think.

With his full power, Nightmare could hypnotize, manipulate minds, brainwash, create life, fly even faster than the Halberd without the Light Speed system, teleport, create beams of energy that would destroy nearly anything with just a touch, absorb most attacks and, of course, create powerful, horrifying nightmares. It was difficult to estimate what he could do now, apart from the nightmares, but Meta Knight was sure that hypnosis and brainwashing were among his repertoire. There was a chance he could fly, even though not as fast, and use the beams of energy. Creating life was off the board, but maybe manipulation of conscious beings was possible. It required much less power than biocreation to be pulled off correctly, but still a considerable amount. Even if that wasn’t the case, the scouting group would need more preparation. Waddle dees were very resistant to most forms of mind control, but that didn’t mean they were safe.

He would say that to the king during the morning, but the knight couldn’t think of anything else he could do to help. The new Halberd was much more powerful than the one they had used to invade NME’s headquarters, but not nearly enough. His mind was also the easiest one for Nightmare to control, so he should stay far away from the area covered by the cloud. That didn’t leave many options other than “sit and wait” and he didn’t like that the least bit.

As time passed, his ever-growing boredom reached unimaginable levels. Combined with the comfortable darkness, that made his eyes slowly get heavier. If it kept like that, he would fall asleep, for sure.

That couldn’t happen.

Meta Knight glanced at the snoring king when his metal shoes hit the floor with noise. Dedede didn’t even snore differently. He opened the window and pushed the curtains in front of it so it wouldn’t close. The air that came in was fresh and allowed him to clear his mind of his problems. He spread his wings and jumped into the darkness of the moonless night.

He flew in circles around the castle, avoiding the lit windows, taking time to observe the environment. It wasn’t often that he had that opportunity. His time was often divided between working in the Halberd, patrolling Pupupuland or training, there was never enough time for flying carelessly.

He named the constellations he knew, remembering good times he had in the planets belonging to them. There were so many. More developed systems were so hard to see stars from. Too much artificial light. That was one of the factors that kept him there at first. The kingdom was peaceful, often overly so, but it was pretty. It was nice.

He spiraled down while examining the position of the trees in the empty castle grounds, enjoying the wind on his face. His strong wings moved with grace in the air, even though carrying the full weight of his armor could seem like a clumsy task. He wasn’t often said to be the best flyer in the galaxy for nothing. Meta flew close to the ground, around trees and along the moat, dipping his hand in the water, as if he wasn’t heavier than a leaf. That was still the best thing in the world.

He went up again and kept distancing himself from the ground, each time farther from the tallest tower of the castle. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. How long had it been since he had felt so relaxed?

He felt a soft mass against his body. Why was it that he couldn’t see everything with so much detail anymore? Everything was darker… blurrier… 

Meta Knight’s eyes opened. He was back in Castle Dedede? When had he returned? Wait…

Had that been a dream?

He checked his gloves. They were dry. He looked outside. The sky was cloudy and without a single visible star. A strong wind seemed to be blowing. The knight frowned. He had slept? A quick nap, be it, but still he had slept and didn’t have a bad dream? Why would Nightmare leave him alone for a night? With the long periods Meta Knight was spending awake, Nightmare wouldn’t lose an opportunity to drain power from him. He was always observing to know when the knight went to sleep, so why…

Meta whispered a curse. Nightmare was distracted. The only thing that could distract that power-hungry demon from him was a stronger source of energy. In Dream Land.

Who was it? There was Galacta, but not even Nightmare had a way to know what that guy was afraid of. There was Kirby, but pulling out a successful bad dream on him was nearly impossible. Was he missing someone? Hardly. He would remember if anyone else there was stronger than him. But then there was no one.

Maybe not one, he realized with a shiver. Meta Knight ran to the window. He stopped for a second, the automatic hesitation of leaving a private room without his mask holding him back, but then shook it off, jumped out and flew towards the town.

Sirica yawned for what felt like the thousandth time that night. She was exhausted from staying awake for so long, but couldn’t keep her eyes closed for more than a few seconds. The dream from the previous night was still in her head…

She shook her head to shove the thought away. The last thing she needed right now was to remember that again. Not that there was much else to do other than sit down and think. She had been to desolated moons more interesting than that room. And the fact that the waddle dee in charge of taking care of her, who was currently knitting by her bedside, was mute also didn’t help.

She grunted and looked at the sky again. The stars weren’t visible that night, which was maybe even helpful, since it prevented her from wondering about the many planets she wasn’t going to instead of lying down all day to wait for that damned foot to heal.

Sirica spotted movement near the village. At first she thought there was a bat coming from there, but when it got closer she noticed it was actually Meta Knight. Without his mask. The knight also seemed to notice her, because he changed direction and flew towards her.

— Sirica, when did you wake up?

No greetings. Alright.

— I didn’t sleep. I know I should be resting and recovering, I’m just too bored to sleep.

— No, no, that’s good, actually — Meta Knight said thoughtfully — Did you have any bad dreams lately? — She remembered the previous night with a shiver. That was all the answer he needed. — Can you tell me what it was about?

Sirica narrowed her eyes at him. What did he need that information for?

— Why?

— I need to check something.

— What?

He shook his head in impatience.

— If you dreamed about your mother at first and then the dream changed, then that means Nightmare had access to another mind. What did you dream about?

The alien girl blinked. Her sleep-deprived mind took a while to take all that in.

— Nightmare is alive?

— Who, Sirica?

She shook her head — I can’t remember, I was alone, I… there was that talking stone, is his name Kabu? He was in pieces… 

— Kabu doesn’t sleep, it can’t be him.

— Um… Kirby’s Warp Star was there… shattered on the floor, but there… I don’t know, I… I think there was someone picking it up, but I couldn’t see them well… 

— His Warp Star’s guardian is Fumu. Was it Fumu?

— Maybe… 

— Maybe ?

— Dreams are confusing when you’re awake! I think it could be her!

— I need to wake her up. — Meta Knight distanced from the window and flew up. Sirica frowned. Was Fumu in danger because of her? What did Nightmare have to do with that?

She took her weapon and, using it as a crutch, walked out of the room. The waddle dee tried to stand in Sirica's way, but she shoved it aside. She stumbled her way up the stairs to Fumu’s apartment. Just when she was going to knock on the door, she noticed it was already open.

The living room was empty, but loud snores could be heard from Parm and Memu’s room and, from the sleeptalking, Bun seemed to be dreaming about those giant robot battles he liked to watch so much. Sirica knocked on Fumu's door only loud enough to be heard. In a few seconds, it was opened by Meta Knight.

— She isn't here — he said with a sigh — We're late.

— Late? Late for what?

— META KNIGHT! — they both jumped when Galacta Knight darted through the window and landed with noise on the floor — There you are.

Sirica expected Fumu’s parents to come see the origin of so much noise, but they didn't even stop snoring. She frowned.

— You could have woken them up… sir. — She felt the inquiring side-eyed look Meta Knight gave her burn through her skin.

— Don't worry, they can't wake up. You saw it too, didn't you? — He asked Meta Knight, who nodded.

— Saw what?

— The village, young Star Warrior. Drowned in fear and agony. All of them are currently under Nightmare’s influence.

— Sirica said she had a bad dream yesterday. From her description, I figured that he had jumped to Fumu’s dream, but she isn’t here.

— How much does she know about the others’ fears?

— A lot, I imagine. She is very reliable, everyone talks to her about their problems.

Sir Galacta hummed — Then he may have used her… do you think…

— Excuse me, what in the name of Nova are the two of you talking about? — Sirica interrupted. The two knights stared at her for a moment as if they had forgotten she was there.

— Right, you don’t know this, I never remember that… — Meta Knight started to explain: — The more frightening bad dreams are to the person who is dreaming, the more energy Nightmare can collect from them. To cause that effect, he uses the person’s greatest fears and insecurities. And he can make one person dream about another, showing him their fears as well. Using that strategy, he has entered Fumu’s dreams and taken everyone whose secrets she knew.

— But that’s almost the entire village!

— Exactly.

The dark cloud, the Fountain of Dreams malfunctioning, the emergency sir Galacta Knight had come to talk about… Sirica was starting to understand the magnitude of the problem now.

— How do we free them?!

— Well, that’s exactly our problem. Since someone let him grow like a plant for this long — he gave Meta Knight a severe look — the only thing that can banish him now is a Star Rod. I could use my lance, but…

— Your lance is a Star Rod ?! — Meta Knight and Sirica exclaimed at the same time.

— As I was saying , I lost my lance upon entering the planet’s atmosphere. I went straight for the cloud to investigate, but the wind was too strong and my weapon was pulled away from me. We are harmless to him now.

— Let’s get another one, then. You should be able to use it, right, Meta Knight?

The swordfighter shook his head — He shattered the local one. 

— Oh.

— Also, the Fountain of Dreams is right in the center of the storm. That’s where he is as well.

— Indeed, we would be lucky to even get close enough to use the Rod. — sir Galacta shook his head. — The wind blows too strongly on the way there. It was just out of luck that my wings didn’t get ripped off — he added in a low voice.

— On the way there? — Sirica repeated, thoughtful — Not in the center? 

— The eye of the storm is the calmest area.

— Well, then we can get there with the Halberd, right, Meta Knight?

He hesitated.

— I’m not sure she could take it… although if there’s anything that can, she is our best chance…

— But we are still too weak to fight against him. — sir Galacta reminded.

They were in deep thought for a while. There had to be something they could do.

Sirica rose her head.

— Warp Stars!

— You would be blown off and fall to your death.

— She’s right — Meta Knight’s eyes flashed green — That’s how Kirby killed him last time. The Warp Star gave him a Star Rod Copy Ability. If we take both him and his star to the eye of the storm, he can kill Nightmare. But Fumu is 

The two looked at the Temporal Warrior as he considered the situation.

— That… could actually work.

— Well, then we have a plan! — Sirica exclaimed. That was a turn from her boring routine in the last days. She was finally going back to the battlefield!

— We? — sir Galacta looked at her.

Sirica felt like he had thrown a bucket of water on her.

— Yes, I… 

— You are injured. In that state, you will be a dead weight.

— I… helped you make the plan…

— And that is enough help on your part. We will take it from here. You can rest now, child.

Her shoulders fell. She looked at Meta Knight, seeking help, but he shook his head.

— I won’t lose you like I lost your mother. I’m sorry, Sirica, but you need to stay where it’s safe.

The girl lowered her head and struggled against the tears that were threatening to roll out of her eyes. She didn’t want to stay safe, she wanted danger, combat, risk of death, but she understood from experience the burden that was an injured soldier. She could make the entire mission flop.

— I… I get it… — she mumbled in a low voice.

— Look, Sirica… — Meta Knight started, but was interrupted by Galacta exclaiming:

— What is that?! — the other two followed his eyes to the red butterfly on Fumu’s shelf.

— Fumu thought that its colour was uncommon, so she caught it to study — the swordsman explained — Is there anything wrong?

— No… no, don’t worry about this… — sir Galacta Knight said, almost to himself, before turning around to face Meta Knight — We should go. We don’t have much time before the storm hits the village.

— Stay here, ok? — Meta Knight said to Sirica. She nodded, not trusting her voice not to crack if she dared to speak, and limped her way out of the apartment. Right before closing the door, she heard sir Galacta’s voice:

— At least someone here can do the right thing even if they don’t want to.

— Can we discuss that later? — Meta Knight’s voice answered and two pairs of wings flew away.

Magolor’s eyes were heavy when he woke up. He had had a weird dream. At first, it was like the usual nightmare he always had. He was with a few other Halcandrans, sneaking into a forbidden library… then they were trying to execute a spell… then… then… 

Then.

Oddly, though, he didn’t wake up feeling the usual weight of the consequences of his lust for power. He didn’t feel the anxiety of knowing exactly what everyone would think when he came back alone. He didn’t wake up sweating while the screams of pain and the screams of hatred echoed in his head.

This time, he woke up to a calm, reassuring voice. It gave him directions.

It gave him promises.

Promises of redemption.

Promises of freedom.

He followed the voice. He hid himself from light and floated past the guards. He tried to teleport into the room, but it was protected, so he used the door. She didn’t wake up.

From then on his memories were foggy and hazy and he didn’t want to remember them. But it was funny. It had almost felt real.

Heh. As if a random room in the castle would be protected with Halcandran magic like the Libraries were.

Funny.

He pulled the blanket over his eyes and fell asleep once again.

It didn’t occur to him that he had not had that nightmare since he arrived in Dream Land.


End file.
